2016 RNC Site Selection Committee to meet this morning with field of four cities expected to narrow

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CLEVELAND - Three weeks to the day after Cleveland leaders sent the RNC 2016 Site Selection Committee off from their site visit to Cleveland, they will learn if the positive things they had to say were enough to lift them over the three cities they're competing against Dallas, Denver and Kansas City.

The committee will meet this morning to discuss their visits to the four finalist cities. Members will review what they saw, the facilities, amenities and logistics each city provided as well as any additional information the cities presented over the last two weeks.

The RNC Site Selection Committee will likely then vote to narrow the field before ultimately selecting a city they will recommend to the full Republican National Committee during a meeting in Chicago in August. The committee, made up of three members from each state will then vote on that recommendation.

The convention will start on either June 27 or July 18 depending on which city is chosen. Kansas City is the only city able to accommodate the June date because of NBA restrictions in the other cities.

When they toured Cleveland during the first week of June, RNC officials offered nothing but praise for the city.

"I’m just totally impressed with Cleveland," said Reince Priebus, adding he knew he would be based on the reaction of the technical committee that visited the city in April.

"The technical team came back and said 'guys you gotta check this out. Cleveland has really done an incredible job,'" he said.

Site Selection Chair Enid Mickelsen said the buildings were impressive, but the committee found so much more than bricks and mortar in Cleveland, they found heart.

“Lots of cities have the technical requirements as far as an arena and enough work space and that kind of thing. At this point what we are looking for is a city that wants us, that’s willing to work hard at it, that recognizes that this is a long term commitment," said Mickelsen.

"I mean for the next two and a half years we’ve got to be working hand in glove and you have some remarkable people. Anything that we’ve asked about we’ve gotten, all of the information that we asked for and more back. There’s been a lot of innovative thinking things that haven’t been suggested at other convention sites before," she said.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.